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Guantanamo Bay prisoner due home this weekend

This is Local LondonMarch 31, 2007By Clara Story

The Briton Bisher al-Rawi is expected back in London this weekend after four-and-a-half years held captive in Guantanamo Bay.

Mr al-Rawi, 39, of New Malden, Surrey, was arrested by the CIA in the
Gambia in November 2002 and has been held at the Cuban airbase by the
US Government ever since without trial, under suspicion of having
terrorist links.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett announced the news in Parliament on
Thursday that Mr al-Rawi would be released and brought home to the UK
within three days, after lengthy negotiations between UK and US
governments.

Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey who has campaigned for his
release for several years, said: "I am relieved that the nightmare for
Bisher and his family is finally over. He will have been in prison for
nearly five years, without charge or trial, against all the rules of
natural justice and against all the legal traditions."

Mr al-Rawi, an Iraqi citizen, fled from Saddam's regime with his family
when he was 16 and they settled in New Malden. As the youngest son it
was decided he would not take British citizenship in the hope the
family could one day reclaim assets in Iraq.

He was arrested in 2002 on a business trip to the Gambia with his
brother Wahab and friend Jamil el-Banna, who were planning to set up a
peanut factory. After weeks of questioning, Wahab was released while
his brother and friend - both only British residents - were flown to
Cuba and imprisoned in the US airbase.

Mr al-Rawi has claimed he was helping MI5 before his arrest, acting as
a go-between to communicate with radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada - a
family friend of the al-Rawi's through their local mosque.

Wahab al-Rawi, 41, made an appeal in the Surrey Comet
in January for the release of his brother. He said: "There are probably
dangerous people in Guantanamo - the world is full of mad and dangerous
people and we should be protected from them. But Bisher is not one of
them."

Mr al-Rawi's lawyer Zachary Katznelson from the Reprieve charity
welcomed the news of his release, and said he did not expect him to
face UK charges.

He said he spoke to Mr al-Rawi several weeks ago about his possible
release, and added: "He said, Don't worry about me, it is Jamil
el-Banna who is important. If I am leaving, they should be leaving with
me.'
"He wants to work on their behalf to help bring them home. He wants to
have some time with family and re-establish his life. He has been away
for so long."

Mr Katznelson said he expected Mr al-Rawi to be taken to a private
location, but did not know any further details of his release.

Of Guantanamo Bay, he said: "I have seen the prison with my own eyes
and it is brutal. All but one are kept in constant isolation, living in
six by eight foot steel cells, with no windows and unrelenting electric
light.

"One has been on hunger strike for over 100 days - tied down and
force-fed twice a day. Just like Bisher, none of them are charged with
a crime."

Edward Davey condemned the prison and the treatment of Mr al-Rawi. He
said: "Everything I've learnt from his family, his lawyers, UK
Government officials, journalists and even the US authorities, actually
tells me that Bisher is not and has never been a threat to national or
international security.

"His case should be a lesson to everyone that when you ignore the due
process of law, injustice follows. I hope he and his family can now be
left to rebuild their lives after this harrowing ordeal."